Congress has tried for more than a year to gain access to those who survived the terrorist attack on two American outposts in Benghazi, with little success — until now. Just days after an extensive report by60 Minutes on the run-up to the attack and the lack of US response during the attack itself, the CIA will make witnesses available to the House Intelligence Committee for a closed session:

A House Intelligence subcommittee will hear from CIA security officers who are expected to tell a much more detailed story about the terror attack in Benghazi, Libya, that killed Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans last year, CNN has learned.

The men, described by sources as former Navy SEALs, former Army Special Forces and former Marines, were under contract to guard CIA agents on the ground there.

The security officers were among those who responded when Stevens’ compound was attacked on the night of September 11, 2012.

They will appear before lawmakers behind closed doors during the week of November 11, sources told CNN.

Did this have anything to do with the 60 Minutes report on Sunday? The report explicitly criticized the CIA for not providing these witnesses, about which House Republicans have long and publicly complained. The CBS report moved the needle enough to get Chris Matthews, who describes these same Republicans as “Benghazi obsessives,” to finally admit that the GOP had a point in demanding answers from Hillary Clinton and the Obama administration over why no response was provided.

CNN’s Drew Griffin thinks that question might get a lot more pointed. According to his sources, the security contractors at the CIA annex were ready to respond four minutes after the first attack began. Who told them not to go?